INSTALLATION OF TELEMETRY SYSTEM FOR REAL TIME DISCHARGE MONITORING AT 27 KEY SITES ON INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM (IBIS) AND WATER APPORTIONMENT ACCORD TOOL.

INSTALLATION OF TELEMETRY SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME DISCHARGE MONITORING AT 27 KEY SITES ON INDUS BASIN IRRIGATION SYSTEM (IBIS)

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Indus River System Authority (IRSA) - constituted under an Act of Parliament - is responsible for “the regulation and distribution of surface waters among Provinces according to the allocations and policies spelt out in the Water Accord” (1991). To strengthen IRSA’s monitoring mechanism, ensure transparency in provincial water accounts and provide accurate and reliable real-time discharge data, the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) initiated the project titled “Installation of Telemetry System for real time Discharge Monitoring at 27 key sites on IBIS”. WAPDA is the executing agency, while IRSA is the owner of the Project. The Revised PC-I was approved by ECNEC on Feb 07, 2024 at the total cost of Rs. 23,834.71 Million (including Rs. 500 million share of IRSA from its own resources).

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

•   Scope
          •   Real time telemetry system and installation, testing and commissioning on all sites.
          •   Access to data by all the stakeholders.

•   Main Aims
          •  Simultaneous availability of online, accurate and reliable information
          •  Confidence of all stakeholders
          •  The database to be used for analysis, planning and audit purposes
          •  Analyze losses/ gains in different reaches to be established

27 MONITORING SITES FOR INSTALLATION OF TELEMETRY SYSTEM
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   Monitoring Sites   27-Key Sites  
  Owner of the Project
Indus River System Authority (IRSA)
  Sponsoring Agency
Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR)
  Executing Agency
WAPDA
  Stakeholders
IRSA, PIDs of all Provinces, WAPDA
  Consultants of the Project
M/s NESPAK
  Contractor of the Project
JV of C-Digital-HBCC with M/s Siemens (Technology Partner)
  ECNEC Approval
February 07, 2024
  Total PC-I Cost
Rs. 23,834.71 Million
  Completion Date
June 30, 2028

OPERATION & MAINTENANCE

          •  WAPDA (1 year Defect Liability Period (DLP) + 2 years O&M period)
          •  IRSA (Thereafter, IRSA will takeover)

CURRENT STATUS

       •  Letter of Intent (LOI) for the contract was issued to M/s C-Digital on July 01, 2024 and contract was               awarded on July 31, 2024.
        •  Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs) of Water Level Sensors, Gate Position Sensors (Absolute Encoders)            and Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) were successfully conducted in Canada and Germany during May               2025.
          •  Proof of Concept (PoC) demonstrations were successfully conducted at Marala and Kotri Barrages for all         stakeholders demonstrating real-time water level and gate position monitoring and validating system              integration and data accuracy.
          •  Flow Measurement Mission-9 out of 11 organized and completed by the Project Consultant M/s NESPAK             to calculate the discharge coefficient at different locations of IBIS. Flow Measurement Mission-10 during              high flow is underway.
          •  Technical Sessions Six have been convened.
          •  Recruitment of IRSA’s project O& M Staff for Telemetry Project is underway.

PROGRESS

          •  As of 31st July 2026, the overall physical progress of the Project is 74.50%.
          •  The financial Progress is 78.21%.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Australia, is a Research Organisation working with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Government of Australia and Government of Pakistan.

CSIRO Australia funded by the Australian Government as well as Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) has developed a Tool known as Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) Tool, for Indus River System Authority (IRSA), WAPDA and Provincial Irrigation Departments. The WAA-Tool is a computer based system to quickly and efficiently forecast the flows at the rim stations as well as advance seasonal planning for the forthcoming season.

The Tool captures the complete 10-day seasonal allocation processes as elicited from key river operators. The tool provides a consistent representation of rules that are repeated by all stakeholders and is considerably more robust and efficient than the existing manual processes. Besides, it is based on the water sharing principles described in the Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) 1991.

Pakistan manages the world’s largest contiguous irrigation system, i.e., the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS). This system, which is under increasing pressure from population growth and climate change, provides water, energy and food security for the nation. Indus River System Authority (IRSA) in consultation with Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and Provincial Irrigation Departments (PID’s) distributes the surface water resources of the IBIS between the provinces. Broad principles on how the water resource is to be allocated is described WAA. However, how these principles are interpreted and implemented, is a detailed, complex process. With the aim to capture this process and in so doing to provide a transparent, neutral and consistent procedure.

Forecasting inflows to the IBIS and unaccounted losses/gains, setting reservoir level targets, and then balancing resources between the Jhelum-Chenab and Indus Systems and balancing and sharing shortages between provinces, is being implemented with this Tool. As would be expected, each of these steps is very complex, as are the dependencies between the steps. As a result, the Tool includes multiple ways of implementing the steps, allowing for comparison and contrast between the results from using different methods. The Tool now provides a user-friendly common platform for describing and modelling the water allocation process in the IBIS, supporting exploration and ‘what-if’ analyses. The Tool was formally handed over to IRSA, WAPDA and Provincial Irrigation Departments on 8th December 2020. Before, this tool, WAPDA/IRSA/Provinces were doing the whole exercise manually, which was a cumbersome and time consuming exercise.